Letter: No facts, solutions offered, only opinion to fuel anger

Published: March 29, 2013 4:00AM

Editor:

In Roger Ramseyer's March 7 letter to the editor he states that 52 percent of Americans do not pay any federal income taxes (Mitt Romney made the same statement, only used a 47 percent figure). He failed to mention that 25 percent of the work force makes less than $10 per hour and their income is not large enough for them to have to pay federal taxes. They do, however, pay state, city and Social Security taxes on their wages.

These 25 percent of working people are not freeloaders as the letter implies, but rather are important contributors to our economic system. Many of them make financial sacrifices and go without adequate health insurance and yet do very little complaining.

Many of this 25 percent are stay-at-home moms, retirees, people with disabilities, wounded war veterans, etc., and, of course, the 4 percent who are receiving public assistance. (I think the public assistance figure was what Mr. Ramseyer was shooting for.) The public assistance figure has been around 3 percent for 50 years prior to the 2007 economic downturn and is now 4 percent.

Mr. Ramseyer's misinformed tea bagger letter only fuels hostility, anger and hatred associated with a difficult problem, all based not on facts but rather on opinions. It offers no solutions or suggestions on how we can improve our system and eliminate some of the human suffering and social injustice that so badly needs to be addressed.

Want to leave your comments?

Keep your Hispanic hate up so we can lock them in as solid and reliable Democratic voters for a few generations. How many liberals will Obama and Hillary put on the Supreme court: 4 or 5?

masparr8

March 29, 2013 1:30PM

These tent city folks must. All they have to do is cross the boarder into Mexico, then sneak back in the USA as illegals, then get free health care and room and board all at us taxpayer's expense.

BuzzKillington

March 29, 2013 10:18AM

You think people choose to be homeless?

masparr8

March 29, 2013 10:06AM

2849- I feel for you and then get angry that a citizen of our country who works has your plight. While the woman who jumped the fence in front of Schumer and McCain will get her medical treatment for free. Something is very wrong with this picture. As to the tent city folks, it is their choice to be there.

roadster

March 29, 2013 9:34AM

Thanks Don. 2849 is a good example of a system gone wrong. Roger does blame the victims, parroting unsubstantiated claims. Let him walk down to our Tent City and talk to some people there about how it's their preferred choice.

dman

March 29, 2013 8:36AM

Thank you for the post 2849. You have my sympathy. You should copy and paste this post and add it under Renacci's column saying we should stay with the current private insurance system.

BuzzKillington

March 29, 2013 7:49AM

Warning: Wall of text below

anonymous_2849

March 29, 2013 7:40AM

I have worked since I was 14 yrs. old. I have been laid off and still took temporary work instead of living off unemployment. My husband worked at a very physical job for his whole adult life. He got very sick a few yrs. back and now receives ssi. (deservingly so I might add) When he got sick we lost everything we had worked for our whole lives. Even had to go live with my parents. We have two boys one in college and one in high school. I make around thirty thousand a year The gov. and insurance let me bring home about twenty one thousand of that a yr. My husband after paying for his insurance gets less than one thousand per month. No we did not got to college. But we have both worked our butts off for as long as I can remember. Now we are bankrupt from Dr. and hospital bills that there is no money to pay for. Last yr. my wages were attached and they took 25% of my gross right out of my pay to pay the Wooster Hospital. I have insurance and still can not pay my share of what is left over. We will all suffer heath problems in our life time. Why do drs.,hospitals and insurance get to dictate that they are so much better than us working people and charge so high that even the very wealthy I would imagine have trouble paying there share. I know life isn't fair but I do pay taxes and I am a model citizen of Wayne Co. and I still can not afford to bye groceries sometimes. I make to much to get food stamps Bam. And as I have stated make way less than 50 thousand a yr. I think your figures are a little misconstrued. We even pay taxes on the ssi money that my husband receives that has already been taxed at least once when he made the money. The people on the hill need to listen to us people in the valley we can tell and show how life really is for the working poor.

BuzzKillington

March 29, 2013 7:25AM

There you have it - the resident teabagger wants single mom on walmart wages to pay more and his corporate master to pay less. The Republicans are nothing but the party for the rich and their ignorant shills.

bam

March 29, 2013 7:14AM

As for them paying taxes,yup they do,but they also get numerous deductions and in most cases actually get more then they pay in as a refund.That's due to tax loopholes put in place to buy votes.They then file state taxes that start with the taxable federal income and with more deductions they will end up paying around 3% of income,and of course they may or may not pay local tax.But the poor are also paying regressive taxes that affect them more than the rich (take the gas tax as an example).So do the poor pay taxes?Without a doubt!Do the poor pay an equal amount with regard to income?Probably not.But again,will you vote for someone who will take your favored loophole away?Not likely,but at some point it must happen.

BuzzKillington

March 29, 2013 7:12AM

bam wrote: "Obama has made it simple to get food stamps even if you make 50,000 a year." [citation needed]

bam

March 29, 2013 7:06AM

Sorry,but I know otherwise.Obama has made it simple to get food stamps even if you make 50,000 a year.Once you start with handouts would you vote for someone that would take them away?Didn't think so.And that is the problem.

anonymous_4064

March 29, 2013 6:11AM

Most of those people on food stamps work at Wall Mart or slave labor places just like them but they do pay taxes.

bam

March 29, 2013 4:12AM

Some 330 million people in the United States and more than 50 million are on food stamps alone.Kind of shoots your 4% theory doesn't it?